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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Category Archives: Better Business

February 13, 2013 Leading As A Mentor

It comes as no surprise to me that businesses and organizations of all types have set up mentorship programs to increase meaningful relationships among the members of their teams. Why? Because mentoring is one of the most powerful, effective forms of leadership.

Yet I’ve noticed that many are hesitant to adopt the role of mentor. They may feel that they aren’t good enough teachers, or that they lack the confidence to take ownership of their skill sets.

The truth is we’re all mentors, whether we know it or not. And while we may not have fully developed this trait, we all possess the potential to become effective mentors and thus, great leaders.

Mentors Lead By Example

In an article from The Journal of Leadership, educational consultants John C. Kunich and Richard I. Lester detail some key aspects of strong mentoring.

A mentor must behave at all times, both publicly and privately, as if the protégé were the mentor’s shadow.

I touched on this in last week’s post, but it’s worth noting here again, because mentoring goes beyond the workplace. Even in your life outside of work, when people might not be watching, you must stay consistent with your values. At the end of the day, good leadership relies upon a life of integrity. When you take a protégé under your wing, you give them clearance to assess your actions. Don’t take this lightly! It’s a big responsibility, yes, but it’s also immensely rewarding to be able to show your mentoree the ropes simply by doing the work you do best.

Mentors Share Their Networks

One of the greatest resources an “old head” owns is a network of people who can help cut through the usual tangle of red tape and quickly obtain the desired result.

Networking in general relies upon sharing contacts and leads, so what better way to give your protégé a head start than equipping them with contacts early on in the mentoring process? Set them up with meetings or informational interviews, give out contact information, or hand them one of your friend’s business cards. I’m sure you can think of people in your life who’ve let you into their already-established network, and I’m just as sure that you appreciate that they did.

Mentors Set Goals And Instill The Value Of Goal-Setting

It should become apparent to the protégé that there are significant differences between workable goals on the one hand and pleasant but less reality-based dreams, hopes, or wishes on the other.

Because great leaders are able to transform bold visions into reality through the implementation of planning and goal-setting, as a mentor you must also stress the importance of this skill, and work with your protégé on developing goals for themselves. A good way to do this is to guide them through the process of differentiating between wishes and workable goals. Early on, get a feel for what your mentoree hopes and dreams for. Have them transfer their dreams into workable goals, and write out a long term program with them to get there. With you there as an adviser and a guide, your mentoree will learn that visions truly can become reality, but only through long term planning, consistency and gradual steps.

Throughout the next few weeks I’ll continue to offer insight into the value of powerful leadership and mentoring, so stay tuned, and have a great week!

Reference

Kunich, John C. and Lester, Richard I. “Leadership and the Art of Mentoring: Tool Kit for the Time Machine.” Journal of Leadership 1-2: (2001) 118, 125, 126.

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February 6, 2013 Want To Be A Better Leader? Become A Lifelong Learner

Strong leaders are avid, continual learners. They don’t stop seeking out new opportunities after they’ve graduated, or once they’ve landed a job; they treat everyday as another chance to acquire knowledge and skills.

No good leader can go without this ingrained drive toward learning. Why, you ask?

1. Leadership Is More About What You Do Than What You Say

As a leader, you set the standards. You may say all sorts of things about your expectations for your team, but it isn’t your words they’ll be watching, it’s your actions. In order to lead, you must act according to the standards you put in place.

This means leading the charge in the pursuit of innovation and discovery. It means diving into uncharted territory, getting your hands dirty, and making mistakes. It does not mean delegating tasks from the sidelines.

2. Leadership Roles Change Between Times And Circumstances

Thus, in order to remain a relevant leader, you must learn and continue to learn. Just because you were in a leadership role 10 years ago does not necessarily mean you’re qualified to lead today. Each situation you encounter presents new challenges that can only be accomplished with an appetite for new knowledge. There’s a reason why medical doctors are required to continue their specialized education long after they graduate from medical school. Could you imagine going to a surgeon who was using standard practices from the 1940s?

3. Great Leaders Seek Innovators And Innovation

Every great leader is adept at seeking out individuals with specific strength sets and building a functional team from the bottom up. For a team to be successful, you’ll have to find people who probably know quite a bit about things you know nothing at all about. Thus, you’ll have to do a bit of learning in order to adequately assess a candidate’s potential, and to communicate with them effectively.

4. Well-Rounded People Make The Best Leaders

To be well-rounded, you need to learn a wide array of subjects, disciplines and areas of expertise. You don’t need to be an expert at everything, but it’s important to have a working knowledge of the world outside of your niche, as it gives you a greater sense of perspective and maturity. Go outside your comfort zone; read history or philosophy if you’ve always been a numbers person. Take public speaking classes if you’re shy (Toastmasters is a great club for this). Learn a language. Focus on areas you’ve told yourself that you’re bad at, and give it another go. You may surprise yourself.

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November 14, 2012 Ways To Kick-Start Creativity

This week I came across an insightful talk on creativity Julie Burnstein gave at a TED Talk conference. As a radio host, Bernstein has interviewed numerous artists, creators and innovators, and began seeing similarities in their take on finding a creative spark. While a bit unconventional, I feel her 4 lessons on creativity ring true for us all:

1. Pay attention to your surroundings. 

“That’s hard to do when you have a leather rectangle in your pocket that takes all of your focus.”

Sometimes we’re so wrapped up in our own little bubbles that we forget there is a busy, beautiful world all around us, right now. Creative people don’t live in bubbles; they engage with the world. Doing so fuels their work. So keep your eyes open. Opportunities, inspiration and unique ideas surround you at this very moment.

2. Some of life’s difficulties create the best breakthroughs. Difficulty, hardship, and failure boost positive creativity by forcing us to think in new ways. For instance, someone having ongoing trouble finding a job will need to eventually adapt by getting creative. Whether it’s modifying their goals or their strategy, they’ll most certainly need to think in ways they hadn’t before, i.e., creatively.

3. Pushing up against the limits of what you can do will help you discover what you thrive at. Using the example I gave above, it would be easy for this job-seeking person to get discouraged and simply give up, but she doesn’t have to do that. Instead, she should acknowledge her personal limits, which we all have. She has found what doesn’t work for her and now possesses a better sense of where her strengths lie. To put it simply, discovering what we can’t do forces us to look, think, and act creatively with the strengths we have.

4. The embrace of loss.

“In order to create you have to stand in that space between what we see in the world and what we hope for, looking squarely at rejection and heartbreak, at war and death.”

This morning, I heard a radio story about an entrepreneur with a pretty simple idea: selling soccer balls. But his inspiration came from seeing Afghani children kicking around a wadded up ball of garbage. So, he created a line of virtually indestructible soccer balls to be donated to impoverished communities around the world. While the “loss” of a ball is a much lighter example of the loss many of us encounter in life, it shows how loss itself can act as a catalyst for positive creativity and innovation.

Bernstein concludes as such:

“We all wrestle with experience and challenge, limits and loss. Creativity is essential to all of us whether we’re scientists or teachers, parents or entrepreneurs.”

It’s true. Creativity is attainable and important for us all. Every kind of job relies upon creative people, and more importantly, creativity enables us to successfully navigate through life.

You can watch Julie Burnstein’s full talk here:

4 Lessons In Creativity

“4 Lessons in Creativity,” TED Talks, accessed November 13, 2012. http://www.ted.com/talks/julie_burstein_4_lessons_in_creativity.html

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